


"One Dark Story" ; "Make Bright Your Dark Story"

by ButterflyGhost, Ride_Forever



Series: North by Northwest: due South poems [18]
Category: due South
Genre: Community: fan_flashworks, M/M, Pre-Slash, drabble poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButterflyGhost/pseuds/ButterflyGhost, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever/pseuds/Ride_Forever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fraser's secrets are a dark story. <i>Ray</i>   Kowalski is the <i>ray of light</i>  to brighten Fraser's dark story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"One Dark Story" ; "Make Bright Your Dark Story"

**Author's Note:**

> AN # 1 : A ButterflyGhost and Ride_Forever collaboration, written for the fan_flashworks "Secrets Challenge".
> 
> AN # 2 : The 5 lines in italics are quoted from "Four Quartets" by T.S. Eliot. They are quoted here under the aegis of the U.S. Fair Use Doctrine and the Canadian Fair Dealings Doctrine; no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> AN # 3 : This is a pair of triple drabbles. (AO3 thinks this is 615 words, but it's 600.)

**ONE DARK STORY**  
a Fraser POV by ButterflyGhost

I’m a storyteller.  
I make you laugh.  
Fireside tales,  
Inuit legend  
The provenance  
Of poker.

I’m a poet,  
A liar,  
A fictioneer.  
I only hear  
What I want to hear  
Only say what I want to say.  
No, don’t blame her.  
I’m the liar.

In the fading light  
Our fire burns low  
To the rustle of  
Your murmuring,  
You, dear innocence,  
Are deep drowned down  
In slumber  
That I can’t follow...

As for me,  
I creep, mutter, peek,  
Trying to imagine your dreams.  
Ashamed to listen,  
Appalled, compelled...  
Naive, but never blameless,  
I listen anyway.  
I can’t make out  
Your words.

I wonder what secrets  
Track you there.

Tell me a secret,  
I want to beg you.  
It doesn’t even have to be true.  
I need to hear your voice  
In the dark,  
When the fire goes out,  
Someone to make me believe  
For a moment  
That I’m not alone  
In the woods.

Lie to me, my good friend,  
Tell me that you love me.  
Anything, everything.  
I just need someone  
To be held by,  
Someone to hold,  
Somebody to give a damn  
And catch me  
When I fall  
(I’m always falling.)

And, oh God knows...  
I’m easy to deceive  
This far from my kingdom.  
The signs point the wrong way  
And the compass trembles  
Unable to find  
True North.

Perhaps in the morning,  
You’ll ask for a story,  
And I’ll dress this one up,  
Parade it before you.  
You’re no fool,  
You’ll know it’s a lie.

And I?  
I’ll try to tell you my secrets  
Symbologically speaking,  
With giants, and  
Sprinkles and lichen  
On top.

You’ll know, of course,  
That I’m a liar,  
Because I’ll talk too much.  
And you’ll look me in the eyes,  
As I make you laugh,  
Not once deceived,  
And say,  
‘That’s one dark story.’

 

 **MAKE BRIGHT YOUR DARK STORY**  
a Kowalski POV by Ride_Forever

_"At the still point of the turning world....there the dance is,_  
 _But neither arrest nor movement....Where past and future are gathered._  
 _Neither movement from nor towards,_  
 _Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,_  
 _There would be no dance, and there is only the dance."_

"That's one dark story,"  
I say to you with a laugh  
when you try to make light of it all...  
'cause light... _trick_ of the light...  
your darkest secrets are the ones  
nobody else sees but me...  
your darkest secrets that they don't see,  
being blinded by your light.  
You're the most clever kind of con  
who can hide in plain sight.

So who's _more_ undercover here, buddy?  
Me undercover, I'm doin' my _job_.  
You undercover, it's nearly your 24/7 _life_.

And I've been there, done that,  
got the t-shirt that says  
"Hurt. Fear. Hope. Fear. Lemme tell ya a story. Har de ha ha."

So you build a little camp-fire...  
you've got _that_ much drive to survive...  
not dead frozen but still damn chilled.  
You think you've kept it secret from me  
that you want to build a fire _together_.  
You've banked it low, but even so  
this is one thing I don't need my glasses to see.

You feel like you're always falling,  
but Benton-buddy dontcha know :  
there's red falls and green falls,  
and this here's a safe fall,  
this falling for me.

Just say "Ray, my good friend..."  
and then shut up for a heartbeat.  
Be at that still-point place  
I've heard you talk about,  
the one where there's only the dance.  
Say just "Ray, my good friend..."  
and be open for me to dance you...  
I swear by my name  
I'll be the ray of light  
to make bright your dark story.


End file.
